While the bubbles still rise…
With Chichester Festival Theatre's production of Top Hat approaching, we've been contemplating the role of sparkling wine as a shorthand for decadence for those who know how to live, love and celebrate. From Gatsby’s parties to Capote’s black and white ball – our friends at Gusbourne take up the story.
Some drinks are made to quench thirst. Others are crafted to signify something greater – an arrival, a declaration, a celebration. Champagne has always belonged to the latter category. It is a drink of theatre and excess, of whispered conspiracies in candlelit ballrooms and long afternoons on sun-drenched terraces where ice buckets glint invitingly in the heat...
No other wine has been so thoroughly draped in the mythology of glamour, wealth and seduction. “Champagne is the only wine that leaves a woman more beautiful after drinking it,” Madame de Pompadour, mistress to Louis XV, famously quipped.
It’s the calling card for the beautiful and the damned, the powerful and the reckless - think F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender Is the Night, Ian Fleming’s Bond, with his taste for Taittinger Blanc de Blancs or Truman Capote, who made Champagne the lifeblood of his legendary Black and White Ball – a party that remains, decades later, the gold standard for high society style and excess.
For Hollywood, Champagne is the go-to shorthand for wealth, celebration, sophistication or seduction. Picture Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman locking eyes over glasses of Mumm Cordon Rouge in Casablanca. Or, fast-forward five decades to the rather less misty-eyed moment when Richard Gere offers Julia Roberts strawberries to “bring out the flavour” of her Champagne in nineties classic Pretty Woman.
At its best, Champagne the liquid embodiment of celebration, seduction and the promise that something wonderful is about to happen.
Which is all well and good. But what of English sparkling? Where do our home-grown bubbles feature amongst this storied glitz and glamour? Perhaps we are simply too British for all this flirting and seduction; for the hedonistic and excessive and the obvious.
Instead, we Brits have opted for the safer ground – literally: rooting the way we talk about our wines in terms of terroir. Hampshire, Surrey and Sussex downland; Kent and Essex clay. Meanwhile, Champagne is all about how drinking it will make you feel. They promise pleasure; we promise provenance.
This earnest articulation of soil and climate isn’t wrong. It’s been the building block of the English wine industry as we’ve spent the past few decades earning our stripes on the world stage. And yet the game is changing. Today, English wines often outperform Champagne at global competitions – our Blanc de Blancs clinched Best in Show at the 2023 Decanter World Wine Awards, for instance. This year, the crown remained English with Sugrue South Downs taking the title.
Is it time, then, for us to stop being quite so earnest in our storytelling and – whisper it – have a bit more fun with our wines?. To be less dutiful and more daring. To remember that sparkling wine, above all, is about how it makes you feel.
Relish the first fizz in the glass. Find joy in that quiet sip before the party begins. Because English sparkling wine – with its lift, its light, its sense of occasion – is more than just a reflection of soil and climate.
Our wines deserve their own mythology. The theatre of the pop and pour. The promise that comes with every fresh glass: that for as long as the bubbles rise, the night is still young.
How to serve sparkling wine like a host in the know
Laura Rhys, Master Sommelier, shares her expert tips for making every bottle part of the occasion.
1. Preparation, preparation, preparation
Nothing kills the mood like an empty glass. Always prepare more bottles than you think you’ll need - chilled and ready to pour. Remove foils in advance, but leave the wire cages on until the moment you serve. No one wants to lose an eye… or damage the chandeliers.
2. Glassware is everything
Flutes are festive, but a tulip-shaped glass or even a white wine glass will let the wine open up, capturing every nuance of aroma and texture. Your guests will get more from every glass with this more generous shape.
3. Temperature matters
Too cold, and the flavours are muted. Too warm, and the bubbles are aggressive. Keep sparkling wines between 8-10°C – an ice bucket filled with equal parts ice and water will chill a bottle to perfection in 20 minutes.
4. Size up
Magnums aren’t just for show – they slow down oxidation and make for a fresher, more expressive wine. Plus, there’s something irresistible about pouring from a large-format bottle.
5. Match the mood
Bright, crisp wines for a lively start, rosé for glamour, and something richer as the evening deepens. Choose a wine that complements the rhythm of the night, from first toast to final pour
For more on Gusbourne's wines, or to plan your visit to the vineyard, go to gusbourne.com
